Jets Considered Hiring Mike Holmgren As Head Coach Last Year

Jets owner Woody Johnson mentioned that he previously considered hiring Mike Holmgren as the team’s head coach last year before he settled on Todd Bowles.

“We were being as creative as we could, and we were looking for talent,” said Johnson, via Bob Glauber of Newsday. “Mike has a Super Bowl record, and we wanted to see what he thought about our process, how football had changed, how it had stayed the same, whether he had any advice for us, that kind of thing.”

Johnson did say that Holmgren was not considered for their general manager position, which was also available at the time.

“This was for coaching, just coaching,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t for general manager or anything else. That setup doesn’t work normally. You get too many jobs for one person. But I was flattered he took the call. It’s Mike Holmgren we’re talking about. He’s a legendary figure, a great coach. I enjoyed talking to him.”

While it’s been several years since Holmgren last coached in the NFL, he has come up as speculative options for a few teams over the past few years.

Holmgren met with the Raiders’ brass including owner Mark Davis and GM Reggie McKenzie back in 2014 about their head-coaching vacancy before Oakland elected to hire Jack Del Rio.

Last year, reports mentioned that Holmgren reached out to the 49ers about their head-coaching job. However, it became clear that San Francisco was focused on other options.

For his career, Holmgren led the Packers and Seahawks to a combined record of 161-111 (59.19%) in the regular season and 13-11 in the postseason. This includes three NFC Championships and a Super Bowl title with the Packers back in 1996.